Second CDS Meeting Set

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has summoned participants in the credit default swap market to another meeting this Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday.

The meeting would be the second this week as regulators wrestle with rival solutions to streamline the market and reduce counterparty risk through the creation of one or more central clearing houses, the paper reported.

Futures exchanges such as CME Group have long sought to play a role in the over-the-counter derivatives markets, despite banks' reluctance to migrate what has been a highly profitable business conducted largely between themselves and other users. However, fallout from the unraveling billions of dollars in credit-default trades in recent months has prompted regulators to push harder for major improvements in the infrastructure of this market, the article said.

CME and Citadel Investment Group this week unveiled plans to launch a CDS trading platform that would be tied to a clearing house, inviting banks and other users to take equity in a project slated to start in early November, which would give them advantage over another planned CDS clearing house that is being developed by Clearing Corp. of Chicago and is to be owned by banks and brokers. The New York Fed declined to comment.